20 Fair empl.prac.cas. 1345, 21 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 30,286 United States of America and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and Cross-Appellants v. Lee Way Motor Freight, Inc., and Cross-Appellee, and International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen and Helpers of America, and Cross-Appellant

625 F.2d 918
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
DecidedSeptember 21, 1979
Docket78-1096
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 625 F.2d 918 (20 Fair empl.prac.cas. 1345, 21 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 30,286 United States of America and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and Cross-Appellants v. Lee Way Motor Freight, Inc., and Cross-Appellee, and International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen and Helpers of America, and Cross-Appellant) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
20 Fair empl.prac.cas. 1345, 21 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 30,286 United States of America and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and Cross-Appellants v. Lee Way Motor Freight, Inc., and Cross-Appellee, and International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen and Helpers of America, and Cross-Appellant, 625 F.2d 918 (10th Cir. 1979).

Opinion

625 F.2d 918

20 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. 1345,
21 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 30,286
UNITED STATES of America and Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission, Appellees and Cross-Appellants,
v.
LEE WAY MOTOR FREIGHT, INC., Appellant and Cross-Appellee,
and
International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs,
Warehousemen and Helpers of America, Appellee and
Cross-Appellant.

Nos. 78-1096, 78-1097 and 78-1098.

United States Court of Appeals,
Tenth Circuit.

Argued May 17, 1979.
Decided Sept. 21, 1979.

Richard J. Ritter, Dept. of Justice, Washington, D. C. (Beatrice Rosenberg, John D. Schmelzer and William Ng, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and David L. Rose and William B. Fenton, Dept. of Justice, Washington, D. C., on the brief), for appellees and cross-appellants.

Paul Scott Kelly, Jr. of Gage & Tucker, Kansas City, Mo. (R. F. Beagle Jr., Michael J. Gallagher and John J. Yates of Gage & Tucker, Kansas City, Mo., and of counsel, Peter B. Bradford of McAfee, Taft, Mark, Bond, Rucks & Woodruff, Oklahoma City, Okl., on the brief), for appellant and cross-appellee.

L. N. D. Wells, Jr. of Mullinax, Wells, Baab, Cloutman & Chapman, P. C., Dallas, Tex., for appellee and cross-appellant.

Robert E. Williams and Douglas S. McDowell of McGuiness & Williams, Washington, D. C., for amicus curiae Equal Employment Advisory Council.

Before McWILLIAMS, BARRETT and DOYLE, Circuit Judges.

WILLIAM E. DOYLE, Circuit Judge.

This action arises under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, § 707, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-6, and is against Lee Way Motor Freight, Inc. and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen & Helpers of America. The plaintiffs are the United States of America through the Attorney General of the United States and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which was added in 1974 as a coplaintiff in accordance with § 707(c) of Title VII.

PRELIMINARY PROCEEDINGS

A closely analogous cause has been before this court previously. See Jones v. Lee Way Motor Freight, Inc., 431 F.2d 245 (10th Cir. 1970), cert. denied, 401 U.S. 954, 91 S.Ct. 972, 28 L.Ed.2d 237 (1971). That case, instituted by black truck drivers, alleged that Lee Way's refusal to grant requested transfers from the position of city driver to line or over-the-road driver constituted an unlawful employment practice in violation of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. The trial court rendered judgment for the defendant. This court held that the statistical evidence presented established that during the years 1964 through 1968, the company did not employ a single black line driver notwithstanding that there were between 353 and 542 men engaged in working in that category. The court's opinion also pointed out that the line driver group was substantially larger than the city driver group, and that approximately 80 percent of the white drivers were in the line category and that there were no Negro line drivers. This court said: "In short, there were no Negro line drivers; most whites were line drivers; and all Negroes were city drivers." 431 F.2d at 247. The magnitude of the statistics established a prima facie case that during this period race was a factor in staffing the two driver categories. At no time prior to the institution of the action did the company employ a Negro line driver. Two black line drivers were hired in August 1968. It was concluded that in the light of the pre-Act discriminatory hiring practices the no-transfer policy constituted a violation of § 2000e-2(a).1

Even though the defendant did not adopt the policy with specific intent to discriminate, we held "that the practice was followed deliberately not accidentally." The conclusion of the court, through Judge Breitenstein, was as follows:To summarize, we hold that the no-transfer policy, as applied to plaintiffs, is an unlawful employment practice within the meaning of § 2000e-2(a) because it perpetuates past discrimination, by preventing them from now having jobs which were formerly denied to them because of their race, and because it does not satisfy the business necessity test. Although the company did not adopt the policy with the intention of discriminating, the practice was followed deliberately not accidently. We conclude that the company "is intentionally engaging in an unlawful employment practice" within the meaning of § 2000e-5(g). * * * This conclusion is not at odds with the provision of § 2000e-2(j) that the Act shall not be interpreted to require preferential treatment. In our opinion the present correction of past discrimination is not preferential treatment. * * *

431 F.2d at 250.

From 1969 through June 1972, a relatively small number of black over-the-road drivers were hired. Thus in Oklahoma City out of a total of 754 such drivers, 741 were white and 11 or 1.5 percent were black. One was Hispanic. In Los Angeles, there was only one black and one Spanish surnamed American hired among 119 drivers. In Phoenix, Arizona, where 37 were hired, neither a black nor a Spanish surnamed American was hired. In El Paso, Texas, out of 35 hired, there was no black and only one Spanish surnamed American. In San Antonio, Texas, out of 11 hired, there was neither a black nor a Spanish surnamed American. There was evidence that prior to mid-1968, no black had ever been employed in the Oklahoma City terminal in any job other than the lowest paid jobs of janitor and porter. Even after Lee Way employed a few blacks in other jobs starting in 1968, it continued to follow an all-white hiring pattern for most of these positions. Out of 22 new mechanics and apprentices hired in the Oklahoma City terminal, all were white. Lee Way did not employ a black supervisor at the Oklahoma City terminal until May 1971. The first black ever employed in the management training program was not hired until February 1972. Its first black clerical employee in Oklahoma City was hired in 1968. Another black was not hired for a clerical position until November 1971, despite the fact that there were numerous hiring opportunities during this period. This pattern was present not only in Oklahoma City, but it pervaded the entire system.

Following the pretrial conference in this case, an order was entered on May 15, 1973. In it the government was required to identify each of the persons for whom it was seeking individual relief. The government was allowed to seek out potential victims of discrimination in preparation of its case. After the initial phase of the trial, the court, on December 27, 1973, entered its findings of fact and conclusions of law in which it found that Lee Way had engaged in system-wide patterns and practices of employment discrimination against blacks, which had continued up to the date that the government had filed its complaint. This was a conclusion which determined the merits of the case against Lee Way. At the same time it found that Lee Way had not discriminated against Spanish surnamed Americans.

On April 10, 1974, the court appointed Dr. Richard E. Coulson, Professor of Law at Oklahoma City University College of Law, as a Special Master, and subsequent hearings were held before Dr. Coulson.

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